Only Apple had a good holiday quarter for PC sales

Apple was the only company that did not see global PC sales decline during the holiday quarter, according to research conducted by Gartner.

Gartner noted that every major manufacturer — which includes HP, Lenovo, Dell, Asus, Apple, and Acer — bar Apple saw a sales decline.

Acer saw the biggest decline, shipping six million PCs over the three month period, an 11% drop from the same quarter in 2014. HP, which recently broke into two new companies, saw the second biggest decline, with sales falling over 8% year-over-year to 15 million units.

The data does not include tablets, according to Gartner.

Apple saw sales increase to 5.5 million units, up by 3% year-over-year. The Mac is one of Apple’s most successful product lines when compared to the broader industry: Sales have continued to increase, despite an overall decline in PC sales every year.

Lenovo is still the biggest PC maker by volume, shipping a total of 16 million PCs, although this figure is down 4.2% over 2014. HP comes in next, with 15 million PC sales.

For many customers, tablets and 2-in-1 devices — a combined laptop and tablet — have overtaken PCs as the go-to device for tasks that would traditionally have been carried out on a computer.

Microsoft has invested heavily in 2-in-1s, remaking Windows to work on a touchscreen and building the Surface Book and Pro models.

In an interview with The Telegraph, Apple CEO Tim Cook questioned why anyone would want a PC. “I think if you’re looking at a PC, why would you buy a PC anymore? No really, why would you buy one?” he said. According to Cook, the iPad Pro — a larger, more powerful iPad — is enough for most people.

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